“The First $50 Million is Always the Hardest”

"The First $50 Million is Always the Hardest"

I still remember the day – a Monday – in summer tennis camp, 1993. I arrived and Jason Puckett asks me if I heard the box office numbers for Jurassic Park, which opened the Friday before. Jason and I were the kids (geeks) in high school who paid close attention to box office receipts, before it became so fashionable for kids to care. Jurassic Park had made $50 million over the opening weekend. We were stunned. It was a record-breaker… and, with that film, the rest is history. But, for my lifetime, it was the beginning of a new age in the movie business.

Now, today, we’ve reached yet another peak. Episode III: Revenge of the Sithhas reportedly grossed an astonishingly record-breaking $50 million in its first day of release. Its first day… and not even a holiday. Clearly, we’ve entered a new realm. And clearly, my tennis skills aren’t the only thing that has changed since 1993.